Contest Finalists Capture Raw Beauty and Awesome Power in Photographs

For their 11th Annual Photo Contest, Smithsonian Institution photo editors selected 60 finalists from over 50,000 photographs submitted by photographers from 132 different countries. Ten were selected from each of six categories: the Natural World, Travel, People, Americana, Altered Images and Mobile. These are 14 of our favourites.

Photo above: Photographer Michael Frank says that what strikes him most about this image of the abandoned Woodward Avenue Presbyterian Church is, “the sense of stillness. A stillness marked by anticipation, not unlike the stillness felt in a theatre between acts” (Detroit, Michigan, October 2013, Canon 7D). Photograph by Michael Frank (Rochester, New York). Finalist: Altered Images category of the Smithsonian’s 11th Annual Photo Contest.

A coastal brown bear hunts for salmon on Silver Salmon Creek in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. According to photographer Daniel D’Auria, “she epitomizes the raw beauty and awesome power of the Alaskan wilderness”. (Lake Clark National Park, Alaska, August 2012, Canon 1D Mark IV). Photograph by Daniel D’Auria (Tabernacle, New Jersey). Finalist: Natural World category of Smithsonian.com’s 11th Annual Photo Contest.

Penguins on ice. “Although my photo hardly does justice to describing the tenuous balance in Antarctica’s ecosystem, it has served to crystallize in my memory one of the last stretches of untamed and inarticulate lands on earth,” says Wang. (Antarctica, December 29, 2010, Canon PowerShot SX1 IS). Photograph by Aspen Wang (Hong Kong, Hong Kong). Finalist: Natural World category of Smithsonian.com’s 11th Annual Photo Contest.

After having finished off a springbok, these two cheetah cubs were chasing each other, each wanting to hold on to the ‘prize,’ a piece of skin left over from a kill. Knowing the cubs would follow their mother, Brugger moved his car and was shocked that, “the cubs not only walked straight towards my vehicle, but decided that they would chase each while playing with a piece of Springbok skin”. (Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, South Africa, June 15, 2013, Canon EOS-1D X). Photograph: Seyms Brugger (Johannesburg, South Africa). Finalist: Natural World category of Smithsonian.com’s 11th Annual Photo Contest.

During their annual migration, wildebeests are forced to find new river crossings in the Serengeti-Mara region. “The animals were being taken by the unfamiliar currents of deep water and had to struggle to get close to the far bank. There were few rocks on which to land and the initial orderly progression soon became a desperate struggle of clambering,” says photographer Karen Lunney. (Mara River, Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya, September 2013, Leica M240typ). Photograph by Karen Lunney (Brisbane, Australia). Finalist: Natural World category of Smithsonian.com’s 11th Annual Photo Contest.

Action hero. As part of a show called “Well of Death,” a biker performs a stunt at a village fair to celebrate Rath Jatra, a Hindu festival (Dhamrai, Bangladesh, June 2012, Lumix FZ 100). Photograph by Nidal Adnan Kibria (Dhaka, Bangladesh). Finalist: Travel category of Smithsonian.com’s 11th Annual Photo Contest.

Mourners cover themselves in mud while beating their chests and standing around a fire for warmth during Ashura, a religious commemoration of the martyrdom of Hussein (Khorramabad, Iran, November 2012, Nikon D700). Photograph by Soheil Zandazar (Tehran, Iran). Finalist: People category of Smithsonian.com’s 11th Annual Photo Contest.

We hope you enjoyed this sampling of the finalists. Visit the Smithsonian’s contest page to view the rest and vote for the Readers’ Choice winner. Voting will be open until 6 May 2014 at 6:00 PM ET (you can cast your vote once every 24 hours). Readers’ Choice, Grand Prize and six Category winners will be announced on 15 May 2014 and the 12th Annual Photo Contest will open that same day.

The Smithsonian invites visitors to use its online content for personal, educational and other non-commercial purposes. Please read the Smithsonian Institution’s Terms of Use for full details.

Related Articles

Join the Discussion

sean

Hi Carol,
Iput the images you shared with me into WP, added the captions and created a gallery. Just to see how it looked and worked.
You are welcome to do anything to it including deleting all the pics and starting again 🙂
I was just trying it out to try to help answer you question.

The ONLY thing I did with the images was compress them using our Image Optim tool that does a great job of reducing the file size while keeping the quality.

The shot called “Charreria tournament” that you included in the dropbox set didn’t seem to have a caption added on the site so I have no added this as yet.